What started as an excuse to go out and play with other people's cars has grown into something huge. More than a race. More than a road trip. More than a show. It's all those combined, plus some magazine-induced torture testing and a week's worth of adventure. Only 33 hot rods have ever competed in this event. This is the story of seven of them.

Asphalt Ego-Rama contestants were judged in nine categories. Craftsmanship evaluated workmanship, design, and detail. Ride and Drive (determined by riding in or driving every vehicle) included comfort, ergonomics, practicality, and passing power. Budget rewarded lower cost. Fuel Economy was calculated between gas stops. People's Choice was based on spectator voting at the Twilight Cruise at the NHRA Museum. Acceleration, Handling, and Braking tests took place at California Speedway. Style points (to promote sportsmanship and discourage whining) were evaluated throughout the event.

From our starting point in Lake Tahoe, we cruised through California's historic gold country. Sequoia National Park provided the opportunity for sightseeing as well as for putting the cars through the paces. Radical altitude changes and twisty switchbacks gave us the chance to see how each of these cars handled challenging real-road conditions.

We dropped out of the Sequoia's into California's flat central valley, and rode state Highway 99 into Bakersfield. The best scenery now was our column of cars running down the four-lane. At Ironworks Speed & Custom in Bakersfield, Rodger Lee hosted a get-together for Asphalt Ego-Rama participants and local rodders.The drive from Bakersfield to L.A. was our final long leg of the road trip. We stopped at the Big Dog Garage in Burbank, where Jay Leno stores his 89 cars and almost as many motorcycles, for a rare private tour conducted by Bob Sales, who helps maintain Leno's fleet. We agreed not to publish any photos (sorry), but ask any of the Asphalt Ego-Rama participants and they'll be glad to share a few shots of Jay's Stanley Steamers, Duesenbergs, Bentleys, and Bugattis. After lunch, we headed to the Justice Brothers Racing Museum in Duarte. We were fortunate to find Ed Justice there and he was happy to give us a personal tour to show off his collection of iron--from the Kurtis-Kraft racers that helped the J. Bros make their name in racing, to Midgets, Sprint Cars, Top Fuelers, and Indy cars.

Although Ride and Drive, and Craftsmanship make up a big portion of the Asphalt Ego-Rama, it's the track testing that everybody looks forward to. People want immediate results, hard numbers, and objective ranking. They got all that at the California Speedway in Fontana. Acceleration time trials were first. Everybody got to make numerous passes down the dragstrip, but Rich Guasco's Model A finished far ahead of the rest of the pack once he figured out he wasn't behind the wheel of his Pure Hell Altered and eased the roadster out of the hole. From the dragstrip we moved on to 60-0 mph brake testing. It's tougher than it sounds, but fun to watch--especially when participants start locking up the tires for big smoke (Corey and Jack), busting brake lines (Denise), and sliding toward the R&C photog (no names to protect the guilty). Jim's '56 Olds, with 13-inch Baer Racing discs at all corners, dominated, halting the black and silver Olds from 60 in a short 133 ft.

In the Handling competition, drivers took shots at slaloming through seven cones set 75 ft apart, as quickly as possible without knocking any over. It takes a well-tuned suspension and some driving skill to do it fast. It's not about horsepower here--a smooth constant run nets the best times. Even a lifetime of drag racing experience is no guarantee that your Model A roadster (for example) isn't going to break loose and find you pointing the wrong direction. Corey Cummings got a chance to show off his Corvette-suspended '47, which zipped through the pylons in 6.68 seconds at 42.8 mph.

Until this point, Asphalt Ego-Rama points rankings had been unknown. Now that we were clocking some official times, we could sense a rise in the competitive vibe. But there was still a day and a half of Asphalt Ego-Rama left. The next morning, we visited the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino. The 150-plane collection includes flyers going back earlier than Wilbur and Orville, and prominently features WWII-era planes from the U.S. and Japan. We backtracked to SO-CAL Speed Shop in Pomona. Jerry Krob had been there all morning, replacing a driveshaft carrier bearing. Tony Thacker gave us a tour, and owner Pete Chapouris and hot rod legend Alex Xydias (who opened SO-CAL in 1946) joined us for lunch.

The Kennedy Brothers shop, about a mile from SO-CAL, is always packed with traditional hot rod projects. Joe and Jay didn't mind us crashing in for a look around. In fact, they were happy to show us the dozens of pallets of parts and a few '32s they had recently bought from a collector. From there we headed to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum for the Twilight Cruise Night, where spectators cast their votes for their favorite car of the bunch. Later that night, after we unwound with a good dinner in our guts, we counted ballots, reviewed track test numbers, and argued the merits and shortcomings of each car. With seven distinctly different competitors to evaluate, it was an apples-and-oranges comparison in many ways, but we had seven plaques and only one said "Winner." The ultimate decision was unanimous.

The announcement was made at Boyd Coddington's shop in La Habra. Boyd fed us and gave us full access to his very impressive facility. And unless we came on a slow day--there was far less drama than you see on "American Hot Rod." The real drama was reserved for our final bit of business--the awards presentation. The prize could've gone to any of these real-world, do-it-all rods, but Jim Shelton's '32 roadster ultimately earned it. Jim and Eleanor, Denise, Jack, Jerry and Cheryl, Rich, and Corey and Judy also earned our respect. All seven of these cars are hard-driven, big-mile rides, built to do exactly what Asphalt Ego-Rama was created to promote. Thanks to everybody.